Jaane Tu... ya Genre New?

Last week I saw a new release by Aamir Khan Productions, i.e. Jaane Tu... ya jaane na. By now everyone knows what the film is and it is still running to packed houses. I was lucky enough to get the ticket for the first day prime time. It is definitely a hit as I do not recall any other film having sold out all its tickets for a Tuesday morning show. Amazing!

We also know that after a big film releases it is punched left, right and centre by all sorts of critics. Different critics have real contrasting views. Some said: "the characters were believable. For the first time we saw college kids that looked their part. We could relate to them." while others said: "The characters were fake. We could not relate to them at all."
Though the second review falls flat once you have seen the film, the critic still defends his whim.

So... what worked? If we just analyse the film, we get the following points:

• The story is entirely predictable
• The characters are as simple as they could be
• There is nothing remarkable about the film.
• Abbas Tyrewala gives us the gist of the story in the first few scenes itself. So, no surprises!
  

I ask again - what worked?
I'll answer my own question now. (Sad?)

JTYJN belongs to a new genre of films. These films do not rely on a strong, original storyline but are basically meant for grabbing eyeballs for 2-3 hrs. This belongs to a genre which I would like to call "Remix". Such films aim solely at entertaining you for the time that you are in the cinema hall. You need not analyze it. Rather, you shouldn't.

This new genre may also have the two films by Farah Khan: Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om. (Abbas Tyrewala who wrote and directed JTYJN has also written the dialogues and co-written the screenplay for Main Hoon Na)
What we see common in these films is that the storyline is simple and predictable. Nothing new there. Yet, we seem to enjoy watching these films. Why? Well, because these films provide a fresh and unique experience. The bits and pieces of these films is what makes them a good watch and hence super hits. These films take a simple story, add salt, sugar and spice and make the story more presentable. We find that it is not the story that matters, it is how it is executed that determines the success of a film. This is done by screenplay, dialogues and performances. JTYJN was brilliant in all these departments. Hence, it worked. Hence, Main Hoon Na worked and Om Shanti Om worked (It is the largest grossing Bollywood film).

So, what do we need for such a big hit? The formula for a Remix film is here:

1. Get a smart but simple story
2. Build interesting characters about this story
3. Build a strong screenplay
4. Give the characters smart dialogues
5. Add good music (just in case)
6. Get good actors (need not be experienced, just have to be good)

That's it. You have a hit film on your hands. Now, isn't it simple? Well, it isn't. That is because most people flaw at points 3,4 and 6. These form the base for any good film. However, over-analysis kills them. So, such films are better left by themselves. The audience will do all the judging.

Reality Check

I have a lot of free time on my hands right now. So what better to do than watch television?
Anything is.

Just surfing through all the channels on the television I could see the poor quality of programmes that are available on the idiot box. Most eyeballs are captured by the K-soaps or "Reality" shows both having over-dramatic music and parallax-creating camera shots. With the end of the Indian Premiere League a month back, and not many late-night football fans existence in India, the focus has shifted back to soaps and reality shows.

These reality shows perform as many tricks out of the book as possible.(The book may have been written by Simon Cowell). From the rudest judges to over-exhibition of emotions and much dramatic music, we are forced to ask the question : "How real are these shows?"

It is however clear that the participants of such shows are under immense pressure to perform. This applies especially to children's competitions. Children are pressurized by both the programme and their parents to perform. It is not enough that these children are under pressure to get good grades at school that they have put in an extra effort for such competitions which are nothing but voyeuristic programmes for the emotional perverts.

That is why some of the participants have succumbed to such pressure by entering depression and having other mental diseases. Such an incident occurred recently during a Kolkata-based dance-related reality show. Shinjini Sengupta, a 16 year old participant was paralyzed and lost her speech when she was criticized by a judge on the show.
You may read the article here : Reality TV show paralyses participant Shinjini Sengupta

We need better programmes, better television with better, original content. This reminds me of a film that I saw recently. It was a German film titled "Free Rainer". It is about a TV producer who produces reality shows. After a turn of events he himself realizes the bad effects of such content and starts a kind-of renaissance to clean the contents of TRP-driven television. The film stars Moritz Bleibtreu and is directed by Hans Weingartner.
Read about the film here: Free Rainer

I hope that we soon realize the downward spiral that such programmes of bad taste bring about and work towards better programmes. Thats all for now. See you later.